Pray With Us: Lent40
Lent starts with our Ash Wednesday service on Feb 25th: 7:30pm at the church.
From Feb 26 until April 3, we will have opportunities for corporate prayer each day of the week, Monday-Friday. The times will vary by day, but will be the same every week (for example: every Monday at 8:30pm, every Tuesday at noon, etc).
One of the great traditions of the church is a schedule of fixed prayer. Although there have been as many as 9 ‘offices’ each day, we use 4 daily offices: morning, noon, evening, and compline (prayers before bed). During this season of Lent, we are inviting folks in our community to add the spiritual discipline of corporate prayer at fixed times. Imagine adding a regular 30 minutes of quiet, meditative prayer to your week for 40 days. How would this choice slow you down? How would it bring calm? How would it facilitate a sense of solidarity with others who are seeking to draw near to God in this season? Speaking from my experience, I know we are rushed, frantic, and often lonely. Here is a chance to deliberately swing the other way to relaxed, peaceful, and accompanied by friends.
Prayers will be facilitated by a leader and last 30 minutes. I invite (even challenge!) you to choose at least one day of the week and commit to that corporate prayer time at the church for the season of Lent. See you there.
February 23, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
40 Days of Lenten Prayer! Outstanding, hermano!
February 23, 2009 @ 11:11 pm
One of the most exciting elements of my small group is the contagious enthusiasm and tangible joy we share over the blessing of new found community at RAC. In this season of corporate prayer & reflection, I’m especially looking forward to divine inspiration. An inspiration to build collective expectancy and faith together for what God will do through us, through RAC, in the lives of our friends and neighbors. These are exciting days of preparation for the exciting days ahead.
February 24, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
Lent
Lent is a liturgical season of 40 days beginning on the “Day of Ashes”, Ash Wednesday and ending on “Holy Saturday”. Lent always begins on a Wednesday because the 40 days are counted backwards from “Easter Sunday” omitting each Sunday. Sunday, the Sabbath, is a “Little Easter” and each Sunday injects a ray of hope into the somber Lenten season.
Much of the spirit of Lent is based on the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert preparing for his ministry. We are also reminded that in Noah’s time it took 40 days of the flood to purify the earth. Jesus entered the desert free of illusions and attachments of the world. It was just Jesus with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but demons came to him as they come to us. He showed us how to drive off the demons with the Word of God. He showed us who he was not. He did not come to bribe us with earthly bread, or to dazzle us with miracles or to win world domination with armies. He simply did the will of the Father.
We must enter Lent as Jesus entered the desert,
free of illusions and attachments. To deprive ourselves of
these can be painful. We are a people of illusions. We think we understand God and ourselves. We even try to impose our wills on God and say we know his plans. We plan our lives without God and are shocked and angry when our plans fall through. As we deprive ourselves of our illusions and worldly attachments, we find we are not all-powerful; we are slaves to our desires, the opinions of others and to the pleasures of the world. We can not stand pain, physical or emotional, so we take a pill. We can not stand growing old so we diet, have plastic surgery, exercise, dye our hair and read “How To” books. Like Darth Vader in Star Wars we replace our humanity with technology. Doing without and deprivation of illusions and worldly attachments can give us a glimpse of truth, which is worth the pain.
February 24, 2009 @ 4:12 pm
Great word, Bill! I may or may not be sending your words out to several of my friends
March 4, 2009 @ 8:29 pm
Scott,
The words on Lent I posted are my own. I wrote them for the 3 churches I pastored for 4 years to use in Lent worship guides. You are free to send them to others or do with them as you wish. No patents and no ego.